Broadcast 3019 Open Lines

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Guests: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston; Topics: We discussed a wide variety of space and policy topics. We welcome your comments about what was said via our blog. Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

Welcome to our one segment 2 hour 17 minute Open Lines discussion. We started off the discussion with my suggesting topics. Among the topics I suggested was Asgardia re their launching a cube sat on the latest Orbital-ATK launch regarding their country they are forming in space. Also talked about was the new book by Andy Weir, "Artemis," plus his comments on colonizing Mars.

Marshall was the first caller wanting to talk about space telescopes, the JWST, and using the FH or the New Glenn for launching larger space telescopes in the future. As part of my give and take with Marshall, I pointed out our national debt and interest cost issues and questioned the likelihood of large public space programs in the future unless we get our economic house in order.

Ft. Worth John was the next caller and he wanted to talk about Andy's book, colonizing, Mars, and setting something up on Earth if we need to live in an artificial hab as compared to building an artificial hab and environment on Mars. John brought up some interesting points during his call so don't miss them.

Kim from Mexico called next. In additional to talking about Mexican holidays including Cinco de Mayo in the States, Kim talked about the Andy Weir book and the dystopian perspective of the book. In addition, Kim spoke about the lunar hab Andy described in the first chapter and the use of aluminum which we talked about at some length. Kim then switched topics to the first nation in space, Asgardia. We compared it in some ways to Mars One and I suggested I would see about getting the founder of Asgardia to come on the show for an interview. Asgardia did launch a satellite on the most recent Orbital-ATK launch to the ISS.

Freemont John called after Kim and he too did not like the dystopian view represented in Andy's book. John brought to our attention a recent research article from the Nov. 17th World Nuclear News about uranium fuel for a sterling engine for Mars testing. This article has appeared in several publications. You can read about it here: www.world-nuclear-news.org/ON-NASA-to-test-prototype-Kilopower-reactor-1711174.html.

Ft. Worth John called back to talk about Vasimir and radiation with some suggestions for it. In the meantime, we received several emails form Adrian and BJohn. In one of his emails, Adrian addressed science as being based on fact, not something else. Listen to it as I read it in detail. What do you think?

The last caller was Doug who talked about his experience lobbying staffers in congress re going to the Moon's surface rather than remaining in lunar orbit and from time to time going to the surface. He also mentioned the views of Rep. Bridenstine who has been nominated to be the next NASA Administrator. Doug's final comments were about the email I mentioned early in the show suggesting that Dr. Scott Pace wanted the government to take the IP from private companies re heavy lift, comparing heavy lift to a national security item such as an aircraft carrier. Doug read the reference material and said that the author of the email, which I explained on air, did not get it right regarding Scott's comments. I agreed with Doug. The article in question from Scientific American can be found at www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-plotting-u-s-space-policy-with-white-house-adviser-scott-pace. Below is the email used in this discussion. I have omitted the name and group name here but I did state it clearly on air. Note the quote used from Dr. Pace which neither Doug or I could confirm after reading the source article:

"Brad Blair and Jerry Black were right. Scott Pace, who is now Secretary of the National Space Council, is threatening to seize the intellectual property for heavy lift vehicles. He calls heavy lift vehicles “strategic assets like aircraft carriers. We need someone to write a press release about this.

Here’s Scott Pace’s full quote:

“Heavy-lift rockets are strategic national assets, like aircraft carriers. There are some people who have talked about buying heavy-lift as a service as opposed to owning and operating, in which case the government would, of course, have to continue to own the intellectual properties so it wasn’t hostage to any one contractor. One could imagine this but, in general, building a heavy-lift rocket is no more “commercial” than building an aircraft carrier with private contractors would be.” Scott Pace, The Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, in interview with Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-plotting-u-s-space-policy-with-white-house-adviser-scott-pace.

Ouch - a really fallacious argument on Scott's part. Question: How many commercial entities have ever put in an order for an aircraft carrier? It should be perfectly clear to all that aircraft carriers are strictly military vessels that only a handful of nations can afford. To compare a heavy lift rocket with aircraft carriers is completely out of line - unless Scott sees HLV's only/exclusive use as being to delivery military payloads to space. Further, the only functional difference between heavy lift and non-heavy lift vehicles is in the size of what they can deliver to orbit. So by extension Scott's position is that ALL rockets should be declared to be strategic national assets. Sounds like someone really desperate to make a case for SLS. Not a good sign."

Listeners, do what Doug and I did and read the source article. Post your comments about this on TSS blog.

You can reach any of the callers through me if you want to have an exchange with them. Please post all your comments and questions on TSS blog.

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